Leaser Lake fish stockings successful so far

Leaser Lake stockings successful so far.

It may be difficult to think about fishing right now — especially after Monday's heavy snowfall — unless you're an ice fisherman, but the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is gearing up for trout season. The mentored youth program in the southeast takes place Saturday, March 22 with the Southeast Region opener happening a week later on Saturday, March 29. The statewide opener occurs two Saturdays later on April 12.

As reported last week, this is also the first year for the voluntary youth license program for anglers under 16, with the voluntary license cost of $1 going toward youth fishing programs.

The state stocking schedule has been set and is available by going online to http://www.fishandboat.com and clicking on "Trout Stocking 2014."

The PFBC expects to stock approximately 3.2 million adult trout in 731 streams and 124 lakes throughout the Commonwealth this year, according to Dave Miko, the chief of the PFBC Division of Fisheries Management. About 2 million of those are rainbow trout, with 647,000 brown trout and 527,000 brook trout included in the 3.2 million. Miko said that about 53 percent of the trout are stocked before opening day.

Catching up on Leaser Lake: According to an email forwarded from Mike Kaufmann of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's Bureau of Fisheries Management, the agency's stocking in Leaser Lake is on schedule.

For 2013, PFBC stocked a variety of forage fish and game fish and has seen excellent results. The stockings were all of the fingerling variety (1.5-4 inches in length) except for some adult spotfin shiners, which are forage fish.

Kaufmann said that the idea is to establish a large population of forage fish in new or reclaimed impoundments such as Leaser Lake so that the stocked finglerling sportfish yield good growth and survival rates.

Laregemouth bass and other sportfish won't receive larger stockings until that forage base reaches a strong level so that the sportfish growth rate can improve after the three- to four-year stocking plan.

Kaufmann also said that the agency conducted an electro-fishing sample to check on growth rates in the late fall. The agency used a boat that sends an electrical charge through the water, then netted the stunned fish for measurement before returning them to the lake.

Some largemouth bass had already reached 10 inches in length, according to Kaufman, noting that it means they may be reproducing as early as this year, which is a year ahead of what was anticipated.

Some of the tiger muskellunge had grown from 4 inches to 14 inches over the summer, most likely due to the abundance of forage and the surprise appearance of creek chubsuckers, a small species of sucker whose population exploded in the lake after remaining viable in the streams of the impoundment during the dam rebuilding project.

Green sunfish and bluegills also remained in the lake's feeder streams during the rebuilding project, and once the lake began to refill, their populations began to explode, especially the sunnies. The ideal situation is to have the bluegill reproduction occur after the first year that the largemouth bass reproduce.

GAOS in Harrisburg this week: The Great American Outdoor Show kicked off last Saturday in Harrisburg at the Pennsylvania State Farm Show Arena and runs through this coming Sunday. The NRA-owned show replaces the former Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show, which was canceled last year by that show's promoter after sponsors pulled out because of the decision to ban the showing of modern military arms following the school shooting tragedy in Connecticut.

The GAOS promises more interactive activities for children and adults, plus the same archery, hunting, camping, fishing and boating components of the old show, maintaining its tradition as the largest consumer-oriented outdoors show in North America.

The highlights of the show include all the demonstrations, presentations and seminars conducted throughout the nine-day event, plus appearances from outdoors celebrities.

The Outdoors Channel is featuring the following celebrity appearances for the rest of the show: Rocker and hunter Ted Nugent from "Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild" 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday; Lee and Tiffany Lakosky form "The Crush with Lee & Tiffany" 12:30-1:30 p.m. Friday; and Gregg Rittz from "Gregg Ritz's Hunt Masters" 2:30-3:30 p.m. Saturday.

Nature photo contest at LGNC: The Lehigh Gap Nature Center located near the junctions of Route 873 and Route 248 is looking for entries to exhibit for its first Nature in Photographs Show at the center's Osprey House March 21-April 5. The show comes on the heels of a successful Nature in Art show last summer.

Categories for the contest include Wildlife (including plants), Scenic and Macro.

Amateur photographers from the region are encouraged to submit up to three of their original photos that are not computer generated or collaged for the judged contest. There will also be a special visitor's voting for a People's Choice Award for their favorite photo.

The entry fee for each photo presented at the show is $5. All entries must be submitted to the jurors as JPEG files of 2MB or less. Files should be submitted by Feb. 28 via email to frozenbeedoc@verizon.net.

Entries that are accepted into the exhibition must be printed from the full quality file and mounted according to the photographer's wishes, but must be ready to hang from the center's display panels, either with wire or Velcro. Sales of photographs by the photographers at the show are encouraged.

For more information, contact the LGNC at 610-760-8889, lgnc@ptd.net, or online at http://lgnc.org.